Young country powerhouse takes her place in WWK finale

As the final of the hot country night-times waned in 2013, Maddison Sharp's voice wouldn't quite let it go.

A Moberly resident, the youngest contestant so far in the Community Enhancement Group's Wide World of Karaoke Cagematch, at a mere 19 years of age, finally shook off second place Friday night (Sept. 13), at Lucky's Last Resort (the starting point of her WWK journey). She replaced such with a winning round in her third attempt — beating four other contestants on the night, spanning genres from R&B to rock to coffeehouse — for a spot in the singing competition's Nov. 1 finale at Vertigo Nightclub.

Sharp, a precision country belter known to cruise the local talent show circuit, works for the local Dollar General convenience store. In a post-victory interview with the MMI, she said that she has been singing "since I could talk," and that "the drive to sing" brought her back out for a third try (following two second place finishes in July and August) — a story similar to last month's third try winner, rock-n-roll cake decorator and mother Sarah Steele.

Sharp will perform alongside Steele, first round winner Raymond Finnell (a bluesy warehouse worker from Hannibal), second round winner Taylor Ross (a showtune- and rock-singing banker/waitress from Paris), and the winner of October's fifth round bout at Bud's Place, for the title of "Wide World of Karaoke Cagematch Cycle One Champion" on Nov. 1.

It could be debated that Sharp has sounded better and hit notes more crisply than she did Friday night in her earlier rounds. However, her sheer power and the control of such for her age seemed to win over the panel of judges on tap, as did her learning from a tough round three defeat in which she sang several songs she had never taken on before, with noticeable struggle.

Sharp reprised each of her songs from a previous round to prove this learning curve. Her well-known rendition of Lee Ann Rimes' "Blue" (which was as pitch-perfect in its yodel as it has been each time she has performed it) set off the competition at a "full speed ahead" pace.

Sharp crossed genres the most Friday night, moving into rock and pop with rehashes of The Beatles' "Oh Darlin," 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up" (arguably her best performance of the night) and her crowd-chanting showstopper, Adele's "Rolling in the Deep." Despite her country background, it was Sharp's lone other country number — Gretchen Wilson's "Redneck Woman" — that gave her the most fits, as she struggled to hit high notes while maintaining the raw power needed to evoke the country-girl-power song's sense of individual strength. Sharp also relies very heavily on a side-to-side sway as her main movement when she performed. She could, perhaps, have been interacting with the crowd more, instead.

When it came to crowd interaction, the act following Sharp taught a school in it Friday. Twenty-year-old Moberly Area Community College student and Bean barista Dakota Jo McWhorter pelvic-thrust and pranced the audience at Lucky's up out of its seats and into his corner. McWhorter limited his musical selection to mostly rock hits, with a sprinkle of bluesy soul.

What McWhorter had in stage presence, however, he lacked in vocal range, power in the low register, and control. Pitch was shaky on four of his five numbers ("Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay," "Sweet Dreams," Satisfaction," and "Heartbreak Hotel"), which could be attributed to him actually performing with the crowd, instead of merely standing like some of his counterparts.

McWhorter's best vocal performance came from The Beatles' "Come Together," and his best all-around performance seemed to be his mid-round Eurythmics and Rolling Stones numbers.

In a way, his movements, to an extent, were somewhat Jagger-esque, so the second of those pairings fit.

His Elvis and Otis Redding numbers, however, lacked the power in the undercarriage to really present any threat in the beginning and closing rounds.

Moberly construction worker Maurice Jackson was somewhat a victim of placement, in that he was McWhorter's reciprocal, yet always had to immediately follow the young man's lightning performances.

Jackson told the MMI prior to the competition that he hoped to bring more of a Gospel and R&B flair to the Cagematch that had been lacking, and he did not disappoint. Armed with a ringing professional voice suited for the genre's low-pitched end, Jackson (perhaps to his detriment, it happened so much) stuck entirely with R&B songs, all with a very similar, meandering tempo. His voice was the most polished on the night; however, Jackson did not move from his spot once Friday, and insisted upon reading lyrics from the screen rather than performing to the crowd with songs suited for such (including Tank's "I Deserve" and Larry Graham's "One in a Million You"). He had a pair of Temptations songs in his lineup — "My Girl" and "I Wish It Would Rain," back to back — that were sung perfectly, but which lacked any real movement that said originators brought along with their vocals. He closed with O'Jays' "Used to be My Girl" — a notably interesting pairing with the Temptations opener.

Also back for her third shot at the finale was crowd favorite Cookie Tanner Lawrence, who had a large group on hand screaming her name throughout the entirety of the competition. Sharp and Lawrence sat near each other for a majority of the evening, and their fans seemed to cross-cheer for one another, in hopes of sending a country contestant to Vertigo.

Lawrence, like Sharp, also brought back several of her priors, including her always-opener, Julie Roberts' "Break Down Here," for her brother, Paul; "Nobody," by Sylvia; and "Old Time Rock and Roll," per Bob Segar. Along the way, Lawrence reprised a song not of her own from last month's round — "Pontoon" (which was performed by contestant, Melissa Winn) — and asked if she would get in trouble if she climbed on the bar during Shelly West's "Jose Cuervo."

And that is just the type of contestant Lawrence is. Moberly's mother of three and grandmother of eight is the WWK's everywoman: the most seasoned participant, exercising decent vocal capabilities on manageable low-range songs, using her crowd-enticing performances to lead one's timid self to want to pick up the microphone, him- or herself, and to say, at last, "This one's for you."

While not necessarily giving finale-worthy performances, she has steadily built one of the most hardcore fanbases in all of the competition.

Rounding out the evening was singer/songwriter Taylor Isaac, who followed her struggles early on into a late two-round resurgence that made things interesting up until the close of the live show.

Isaac had a nice blend of performance and voice going for her Friday night, despite pitch problems with her first three numbers (Melissa Ethridge's "Like the Way I Do," Stevie Nicks' "Stand Back," and John Waite's "Missing You"). She mentioned to the MMI in a WWK preview that she played acoustic guitar, which, in a way, may have set her up for hardships early on with the transition to pre-recorded backing tracks. Something just did not click those first three times, and culminated in the Waite song, where she attempted to go in different directions with the melody, but did not hit her mark.

Things took a complete 180 in round four, though, when out of nowhere, Isaac pulled up a powerful "Barracuda" cover that evoked the rawness of Heart lead singer Ann Wilson, then followed that confidence-booster up with a pleasant pop crossover into Madonna-land, via "Crazy For You." Her pitch became more controlled. She didn't push as hard. Her singing became better.

Finnell (Prince's "Purple Rain"), Ross (Lady Gaga's "You and I," Stevie Nicks' "Edge of Seventeen"), and Steele (Sarah McLaughlin's "Angel," acapella) all returned in between rounds and performances to entertain the crowd Friday, as well as round three contestant Jackie Blackford (Reba McEntire's "Why Haven't I Heard From You?"), Steele's beau, Adam "Hero" Steele ("Man of Constant Sorrow," in the stylings of Charm City Devils), and newcomer Hayley Vomund (Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life").

Following judge deliberations, the contestants were brought back before the crowd, McWhorter and Isaac holding hands to the left, Sharp and Lawrence holding each other in a supporting hug in the center, and Jackson sipping nervously on his drink off to the right.